Locomotive crane



Feb. 23, 1960 M. PRESTON 2,925,923

LOCOMOTIVE CRANE Filed April 9, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR.

Feb. 23, 1960 M. PRESTON LOCOMOTIVE CRANE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 9, 1956 A I'TURNE ys Feb. 23, 1960 M. PRESTON LOCOMOTIVE came 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 9, 1956 INVENTOR M4277 P Esro/v BY Arron/v ys United States Patent O LOCOMOTIVE CRANE Martin Preston, Shaker Heights, Ohio, assignor to The Wellman Engineering Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 9, 1956, Serial No. 576,936 1 Claim. (Cl. 21238) This invention relates to material handling apparatus and more particularly to a locomotive crane.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a novel and improved crane and in particular, a locomotive crane arranged and constructed to handle heavy loads and comprising means for selectively effecting operative connections between the prime mover or power actuator and one or more of the various crane components and which means affords different degrees of control thereby increasing the range or type of work that the crane is capable of performing.

The invention resides in certain constructions and combinations and arrangements of parts, and further objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it relates from the following description of the preferred embodiment described with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which:

- Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a locomotive crane embodying the invention;

, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the machinery cab, taken approximately on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, partly in ele-.

vation approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the electrical control circuit.

Referring to the drawings, the locomotive crane shown comprises a frame or supporting platform 11 mounted upon the usual front and rear trucks 12, 13 for movement along a railway track and having on said platform a rotatably mounted cab 14. The cab 14 encloses a power source, for example, a diesel engine 15 for powering the crane including movement of a boom 16 pivoted to the forward end of the cab deck and a load hook 17 suspended from the end of the boom by the load hoist line or cable 18. The movements of the boom 16 and the load hook 17 are controlled by playing out and taking up the boom line or cable 19 and load line 18 connected to conventional winch means including cable drums 20 and 21, the drums being provided with individual friction type clutch and brake mechanisms for controlling their operation. Only the clutch and brake mechanism 22 for the load line drum 21 is shown. The clutch or brake mechanisms are controlled from the operators station 24 in the cab 14. The drum 21' and the clutch and brake mechanism 22' are substantially duplicates of the drum 21 and the clutch and brake mechanism and are used to control a third line when required.

The driving shaft 26 of the diesel engine 15 is connected to a driven shaft 27 in alignment therewith by a selective coupling mechanism 28. The shaft 27 is connected by a chain drive 29 to a shaft 30 parallel therewith. The chain drive 29 is connected to one end of the shaft 30 and the opposite end of the shaft 30 is provided with a gear 31 continuously meshing with a gear 32 mounted on one end of a shaft 33 spaced forwardly of the shaft 30. The opposite end of the shaft 2,925,923 Patented F eb. v23, 1960,

33 is provided with a gear 34 in driving connection with a gear 35 on a shaft 36 mounted on the opposite side of shaft 33 from the shaft 30 and which shaft drives the drums 21 through the clutch and brake mechanisms 22. The clutch and brake mechanisms for the boom and load cable drums are well known in the art and will not be described in detail, suffice it to say that they are selectively controllable from the operators station 24 by control means including hand levers and foot pedals 37 and 38, and, preferably, include means for selectively maintaining the clutches engaged without continuous attention on the part of the operator. Because the shafts 30, 33 etc. and in turn the drums 20 and 21 are driven through the selective coupling mechanism 28 the rotation of the drums 20, 21 etc. may be controlled by or from the selective coupling mechanism 28 when their respective clutches of the clutch and brake mechanisms are engaged.

The selective coupling mechanism 28, as shown, comprises a magnetic clutch designated generally as A and a fluid operated friction clutch designated generally as B which clutches are arranged in what may be called parallel relationship between the driving shaft 26 and the driven shaft 27. The clutches A and B are adapted, as will hereinafter appear, to be selectively actuated. The field rotor or input member 40 which forms the driving element of the magnetic clutches A is located within and carried by a cylindrical member 41 connected to the driving shaft 26, by means of an annular element 42 provided with a tubular hub 43 integral therewith and rigidly connected to a flanged portion 44 of a member 45 keyed to the shaft 26. The driven shaft 27 extends outwardly from a pilot bearing, not shown, in the driving shaft 26 passing coaxially through the hub 43 and through the magnetic and friction clutches A and B.

The driven shaft 27 is rotatably supported, as previously stated, in the driving shaft 26 by a pilot bearing at its inner end and by antifriction bearings 47, the former of which is carried in the hub member 43 and the latter in a bearing bracket 48.

The field rotor or input member 40 of the magnetic clutch A, which is of commercial construction, comprises a plurality of axially spaced internal ring members 53, 54 and 55 fixed to the cylindrical member 41 connected to the annular element 42. The ring members 53, 54 and 55 constitute the pole members of the field rotor 40 and cooperate with the cylindrical member 41 in defining annular spaces 56 and 57 in which are located ring shaped field windings 60 and 61. The ring members 53 and 54 have annularly spaced axially extending teeth which are disposed in intermeshing relation and embrace the field winding 60. Similiarly, the ring members 54 and 55 are provided with axially extending teeth embracing the field winding 61.

The field windings 60 and 61 are adapted to be connected to an electric current source by suitable means, such as lead wires 66 connected therewith and with slip rings 67 and 68 insulatively mounted in spaced relation on the hub 43. Suitably supported brushes 71 and 72 cooperating with the slip rings 67 and 68, respectively, are employed to complete the circuit through a controller 73 at the operators station 24.

The inductor rotor 74 which forms the driven element of the magnetic clutch A and which is magnetically driven by the field rotor 40 comprises a cylindrical outer member 75 disposed in relatively closely spaced running relation to the field rotor 40 and an inner hub member 76 which is connected with the driven shaft 27 by a key 77. The inductor rotor 74 also comprises an intermediate annular member 80 connected to the outer member 75 and to the hub member 76 by connecting screws or the like. As shown in Fig.

3, the inductor rotor 74 also includes inductor bars 81 and 82 which are preferably in the form of copper rings mounted adjacent the ends of the rotor.

The friction clutch B is positioned axially of the driven shaft 27 and adjacent to the magnetic clutch A, and the shaft 27 may be driven from the shaft 26 therethrough or through the magnetic clutch A. The friction clutch B includes an annular or ring element 83 connected to the right hand end of the cylindrical member 41, as viewed in Fig. 3, by bolts 84. The member 33 carries a friction disc 85 slidably keyed thereto and projecting inwardly thereof between two plate-like members 86, 87, the former of which forms a flange on a hublike member 90 fixed to the shaft 27 and the latter of which is keyed to the former for axial movement relative thereto. The members 86 and 87 form the driven element of the friction clutch B, the driving element, that is, the disc 35 being selectively clamped therebetween by axial reciprocation of the member 87.

Compression springs 88 interposed between the members '86 and 87 normally urges the member '87 away from the member 86 to release the friction disc 85. The side of the member 87 opposite to the friction disc 85 is provided with a facing member 91 maintained in position thereon by a pin 92 and engaged by an annular flexible diaphragm 93 of a diaphragm type fluid pressure motor for actuating the friction clutch proper. The outer peripheral edge of the facing member 91 is clamped between an annular member 94 and the peripheral edge portion of a disc-like member 95 outwardly of an annular groove 96 in the face of the member 95 to which the diaphragm is connected.

The member 95 is fixedly connected to the hub like member 90 and the inner peripheral edge of the diaphragm 93 is clamped to the side thereof inwardly of the groove 96 by a clamp ring 97. The diaphragm 93 normally conforms to the outer surface of the facing member 91 and is responsive to fluid pressure to fiex axially against the facing member 1 to thereby compress springs 88 and move the member 57 axially to clamp the disc 85 therebetween and the member 36. The clamping of the disc 85 between the members 86 and 87 is effective to provide a coupling to drive the shaft 27 from the driven shaft 26. The cylinder me ber 95 is provided with an axial aperture 93 spaced inwardly of the outer edge thereof, for the admission and exit of fluid under pressure to and from the cylinder gears 96 to the right of the diaphragm 93 as viewed in Fig. 3.

The fiuid pressure, such as air under pressure, is conducted to the friction clutch B through the aperture 93 from a conventional compressed air supply by a conduit 99. The conduit 09 is connected to an axial aperture 100 in the driven shaft 27 by means of a conventional rotor seal 101 connected to the free end section of the driven shaft 27 and in axial alignment with the aperture thereof. The aperture 133% extends inwardly of the free end of the driven shfit 27 terminating adjacent the friction clutch B and is in communication with a transverse aperture 102 provided in the driven shaft. A flexible conduit 103 is suitably connected with the aperture 102 and a fluid-coupling device 104 including a quick relief valve having an opening overlying the lefthand end of the aperture 98 in the member 95. The ingress and egress of fluid pressure to the friction clutch B is controlled by a solenoid valve 105 (see Fig. 4) which is operatively connected to the controller 73.

The field coils 60 md '61 for the magnetic clutch A are connected in a series relationship with the power source, in this instance a generator 105 driven shaft by a chain drive 107 from the drive shaft 25 and a rheostat 108. The rheostat 105 comprises spaced taps or contacts, for engagement by a sliding contact 109 at the free end of a pivoted contact arm 110. The contact arm 110 is provided with an auxiliary contact 111 spaced from the contact 109. Spaced from the left-hand end tap contact 112, as viewed in Fig. 4, there is provided a contact 113 connected to one lead of the solenoid 105, and positioned for engagement by the contact 111. The contacts 109, 111, 112 and 113 are so arranged and spaced that when the contact arm is in the position in which the contacts 109 and 1-12 are engaged, the contacts 111 and 113 are similarly engaged.

A stop 114 spaced from the left-hand end of the series of rheostat tap contacts including the contact 112 is provided to arrest the counterclockwise movement of the contact arm 110 after the contact 109 has passed over and beyond the contact 112. When the contact arm 109 is in engagement with the stop 114 the field coils 60 and 61 are deenergized. The solenoid contact 113, however, continues to be engaged by the contact 111 being of a length to be continuously engaged by the contact 111 during the movement of the contact arm 110 from the contact 112 to its position in engagement with the stop 113.

The controller 73 is located at the crane operators station 24, along with the aforementioned hand and foot controls 37 and 38, and the coupling mechanism 28 may be controlled by the operator through movement of the contact arm 110 to selectively engage the magnetic clutch A and the friction clutch B. The amount of slippage of the magnetic clutch A may be varied through the selective movement of the cont-act arm 110 along the contacts for the rheostat 108, the minimum amount of slip page occurring at the contact 112, since at that point the field coils 60 and 61 are fully energized. Simultaneously, with the arrival of the contact arm 110 at con tact 112, the solenoid of the fluid pressure control valve is energized to admit fluid under pressure to the friction clutch B. The disengagement of the contact arm 110 with contact 112, and the placing of the contact arm 110 against the stop 114, deenergizes the field coils 60 and 61 and thereby the magnetic cluch A and allows the coupling to be made by the friction clutch B without any interruption in the drive. When the friction clutch B is engaged, the load hoist drum etc. may be controlled in the usual manner by the hand and foot controls 37 and 38.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the objects of the invention heretofore enumerated and others have been accomplished and that there has been provided a novel and improved multi-purpose locomotive crane including a selective coupling mechanism in what may be referred to as the main drive for the hoist mechanism etc. which mechanism requires a minimum of space and affords the control obtainable by use of a magnetic or other slip-type clutch without sacrificing the capacity of the crane. The control obtainable with the magnetic clutch shown is of particular advantage in manipulating the load hoist line when a hook block is employed as distinguished from an electric magnet or a bucket as the line can be played out or taken up with a nicety or degree of control not obtainable by manipulation of a clutch and brake. Magnet and bucket work does not require the same degree of control as is required to do hook block work. While specific types of slip and friction clutches have been referred to, it is to be understood that other types of slip clutches, for example so-called fluid clutches, could be employed in place of the magnetic clutch shown and that a positiveacting clutch such as a jaw clutch could be substituted for the friction clutch shown.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in considerable detail, the invention is not limited to the particular construction referred to and it is my intention to cover hereby all adaptations and modifications thereof which come within the practice of those skilled in the art to which the invention relates and within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a multi-purpose locomotive crane having a boom, a boom hoist cable, a load hoist cable, boom and load hoist cable drums for controlling said boom and load hoist cables, a power actuated rotary driving member comprising an electrical coil and the driving element of a friction clutch positioned axially of the electric coil, an inductor member radially inwardly of said coil and adapted to be magnetically driven by said driving member upon energization of said coil, a rotatably driven member comprising said inductor member and the driven element of said friction clutch, fluid-pressure responsive means for effecting engagement between said driving and driven elements of said friction clutch, friction clutch means for selectively connecting one of said drums to said driven member, means for controlling said friction clutch means, electrical power means for energizing said coil, and a single control means adapted for selectively actuating said fluid-pressure responsive means and for connecting said electrical power means to energize said coil, said control means including a variable resistance device for changing the energization of said coil and being adapted to maintain said coil energized during initial actuation of said fluid-pressure responsive means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,848,091 Winther Mar. 1, 1932 2,317,135 Crittenden Apr. 20, 1943 2,462,747 Jacobs Feb. 22, 1949 2,498,244 Bromfield Feb. 21, 1950 2,605,313 Sadler July 29, 1952 

